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Monday, April 28, 2014

Alleged Human Smuggler Extradited to Face Charges in Washington, D.C.

Habtom Merhay, a national of Eritrea and a citizen of the United
Kingdom, made his initial appearance today in Washington, D.C., federal
court to face human smuggling charges for his role in smuggling
primarily Eritrean and Ethiopian undocumented migrants from Dubai,
United Arab Emirates, through South and Central America and Mexico into
the United States.

Acting Assistant Attorney General David A.
O’Neil of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney
Ronald C. Machen Jr. of the District of Columbia and Acting Special
Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger of U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) made the
announcement.

Merhay, 47, arrived in the United States on April
25, 2014, and made his initial appearance today before U.S. Magistrate
Judge Deborah A. Robinson in the District of Columbia.
He was indicted under seal in the District of Columbia in 2012, and the charges were unsealed today.
Merhay has been in the custody of Moroccan authorities pending
extradition since his arrest in Marrakech, Morocco, in August 2013.

The
indictment charges Merhay with one count of conspiracy to bring
undocumented migrants to the United States for profit and 15 counts of
unlawfully bringing an undocumented migrant to the United States for
profit.
Court documents allege that Merhay operated with a network of
smugglers in Africa, the United Arab Emirates, South and Central
America, Mexico and elsewhere to coordinate and implement arrangements,
including providing fraudulent identity and travel documents, for
undocumented migrants to travel through Latin America and ultimately
into the United States without authorization.
For up to $15,000, Merhay arranged for individual undocumented
migrants to travel from points in Africa to a house or apartment in
Dubai, where he provided travel documents, tickets and instructions for
meeting other smugglers while on the way to the United States.
Merhay coordinated the migrants’ air travel to South America,
where they would meet with Merhay’s associates, who would direct or
guide them across the various country borders.
The undocumented migrants then met with other smugglers
associated with Merhay and were further guided north to Mexico and then
into the United States, sometimes by crossing the Rio Grande River by
raft.

The investigation was conducted under the Extraterritorial
Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between
the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and ICE-HSI.
The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may
present particular national security or public safety risks or present
grave humanitarian concerns.
ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources.
ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.

The
investigation was conducted by HSI Washington. This case is being
prosecuted by Trial Attorney Jay Bauer of the Criminal Division’s Human
Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney
Frederick Yette of the District of Columbia. The extradition was
handled by Dan E. Stigall of the Criminal Division’s Office of
International Affairs.

The Department of Justice and HSI
expressed their appreciation for the significant assistance provided by
the Moroccan Ministry of Justice.

The charges contained in the
indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed
innocent unless and until proven guilty.